Glen Weldonhttp://wuis.org
enFrench, English, Comics: Proust On Memory, In Any Languagehttp://wuis.org/post/french-english-comics-proust-memory-any-language
[Deep breath.]<p>So there's this new English translation of a French graphic novel adaptation of <em>Swann's Way</em>, the first of seven novels in Marcel Proust's masterwork, <em>In Search of Lost Time</em>.<p>Got all that? First there was the 1913 novel by Proust (in French!), then a graphic novel adaptation by Stephane Heuet (in French!) that was published in installments between in 1998 and 2013, and now that whole thing has been translated by Arthur Goldhammer (into English!).<p>It's complicated. But then, this is Proust we're talking about.Sun, 12 Jul 2015 11:49:00 +0000Glen Weldon53380 at http://wuis.orgFrench, English, Comics: Proust On Memory, In Any LanguagePop Culture Happy Hour, Small Batch Edition: 'Terminator Genisys'http://wuis.org/post/pop-culture-happy-hour-small-batch-edition-terminator-genisys
Faithful Pop Culture Happy Hour listeners know that contributor Chris Klimek is a lifelong action-movie enthusiast, but they may not know that he is, in particular, a Terminator movie connoisseur.Tue, 07 Jul 2015 19:35:00 +0000Glen Weldon53069 at http://wuis.orgPop Culture Happy Hour, Small Batch Edition: 'Terminator Genisys'After 25 Years, A Comics Publisher Pauses To Collect And Reflecthttp://wuis.org/post/after-25-years-comics-publisher-pauses-collect-and-reflect
Drawn and Quarterly, the Montreal-based publisher of comics and graphic novels, began life as a magazine, released in April of 1990. That first issue served as a de facto mission statement, laying out what the company would one day achieve on a grander scale – and what it would strive always to avoid.<p>Editor Chris Oliveros felt a kinship with the idiosyncratic, deeply personal work appearing in underground anthologies like Art Spiegelman's RAW and Robert Crumb's WEIRDO.Tue, 30 Jun 2015 16:24:00 +0000Glen Weldon52660 at http://wuis.orgAfter 25 Years, A Comics Publisher Pauses To Collect And ReflectPop Culture Happy Hour Small Batch: 'Sense8'http://wuis.org/post/pop-culture-happy-hour-small-batch-sense8
In this Small Batch edition of Pop Culture Happy Hour, I sat down with promising NPR up-and-comer Audie Cornish to discuss the new Netflix streaming science-fiction series, <em>Sense8</em>.<p>The show's about a group of 8 people scattered across the globe who suddenly become mentally and emotionally connected, and the hijinks that ... eventually ... ensue. The creators of the show bring plenty of nerd-cred to the table: J. Michael Straczynski, of <em>Babylon 5</em> and lots of superhero comics, is head writer and producer.Tue, 09 Jun 2015 18:03:00 +0000Glen Weldon51338 at http://wuis.orgPop Culture Happy Hour Small Batch: 'Sense8'Floating Eyeballs, Trained Bees: History's Most Cringeworthy Crusadershttp://wuis.org/post/floating-eyeballs-trained-bees-historys-most-cringeworthy-crusaders
Think about superheroes for a minute.<p>NO THANKS, you say. KIND OF SUPERHEROED OUT, you say. I'M TIRED OF BEING FORCE-FED AN ALL-SUPERHERO DIET IN MOVIES AND TV, SO ACTUALLY IT'D BE GREAT IF I COULD <em>NOT</em> THINK ABOUT THEM, AT ALL, FOR EVEN ONE LOUSY MINUTE, THANK YOU <em>VERY</em> MUCH, you say.<p>... You are kind of touchy, has anyone told you that?<p>No, I get it.Fri, 05 Jun 2015 20:47:00 +0000Glen Weldon51128 at http://wuis.orgFloating Eyeballs, Trained Bees: History's Most Cringeworthy CrusadersSmall Batch: 'Mad Max: Fury Road' http://wuis.org/post/small-batch-mad-max-fury-road
Another sequel, another chance for Hollywood to hurl metal hither and yon and make with the flashy summer blockbuster blow-'em-ups. Yawn, right?<p>So you might think. But I asked Chris Klimek to help me unpack why so many critics are praising <em>Mad Max: Fury Road</em> as something altogether different. We discuss the original Mad Max trilogy from our different perspectives and analyze how <em>Fury Road</em> fits in — or doesn't.Thu, 21 May 2015 18:26:00 +0000Glen Weldon50162 at http://wuis.orgSmall Batch: 'Mad Max: Fury Road' Free Comic Book Day: A Guide To The Heroes, Musicians And Mutantshttp://wuis.org/post/free-comic-book-day-guide-heroes-musicians-and-mutants
Another first Saturday in May, another blockbuster superhero movie set to bust our collective blocks, another Free Comic Book Day.<p>"What's Free Comic Book Day?" you ask, because you've managed to ignore the gallons of virtual ink I've spilled about it on this blog every year since 2009.<p>(No look it's fine, I get it, but at this point it's starting to look like willful obtuseness on your part, ok?)<p>Free Comic Book Day is the comics industry's yearly attempt to bring new readers into the fold.Fri, 01 May 2015 16:39:00 +0000Glen Weldon48903 at http://wuis.orgFree Comic Book Day: A Guide To The Heroes, Musicians And MutantsThe Comedy And Good Conversation Of Harris Wittelshttp://wuis.org/post/comedy-and-good-conversation-harris-wittels
Harris Wittels died Thursday.Fri, 20 Feb 2015 18:06:00 +0000Glen Weldon43697 at http://wuis.orgThe Comedy And Good Conversation Of Harris WittelsWolverine's Death: Superheroes And The Cycle Of Eternal Returnhttp://wuis.org/post/wolverines-death-superheroes-and-cycle-eternal-return
<em>The fourth and final issue of the weekly, four-issue Marvel Comics miniseries </em>Death of Wolverine<em>, written by Charles Soule and drawn by Steve McNiven, will be published Wednesday. This prompted an incredulous text from a friend, Golfrguy, to NPR's nerd-about-town Glen Weldon:</em><p><strong>Golfrguy</strong>: dude they're killing off wolverine???????<p><em>Despite Golfrguy's concern, he's really a non-comics-reading "normal" — someone for whom the death of a superhero is still an astounding event.Sun, 12 Oct 2014 18:04:00 +0000Glen Weldon34928 at http://wuis.orgWolverine's Death: Superheroes And The Cycle Of Eternal ReturnA Hairy, Sardonic Fable In 'The Gigantic Beard That Was Evil'http://wuis.org/post/hairy-sardonic-fable-gigantic-beard-was-evil
<em> (For stories are necessary lies.)</em><p>That statement comes as a seeming afterthought, tossed off at the bottom of the page toward the end of Stephen Collins' slyly exquisite graphic novel <em>The Gigantic Beard That Was Evil.</em> The book's absurdist narrative climax has come and gone, and in the quiet that descends in its wake we readers sail on, blithely navigating the glass-calm waters of dénouement until we strike that tiny, astonishing parenthetical.Wed, 08 Oct 2014 11:03:00 +0000Glen Weldon34651 at http://wuis.orgA Hairy, Sardonic Fable In 'The Gigantic Beard That Was Evil'Cyborgs, Simpsons And Ticks: All About Free Comic Book Dayhttp://wuis.org/post/cyborgs-simpsons-and-ticks-all-about-free-comic-book-day
Here's the drill: This Saturday, May 3<sup>rd</sup>, is Free Comic Book Day. Walk into a comics shop (you can find the one nearest you at <a href="http://www.freecomicbookday.com/storelocator">www.freecomicbookday.com/storelocator</a>), and they will hand you some free comics.<p>Not <em>any</em> comics in the store, mind you, but a selection of comics specifically produced for Free Comic Book Day, which is now an annual event. There are a whopping 57 such books this year – some of them samplers, with excerpts from various titles, while others reprint the first chapters of ongoing series.Fri, 02 May 2014 12:19:00 +0000Glen Weldon24268 at http://wuis.orgCyborgs, Simpsons And Ticks: All About Free Comic Book DayDear Zack Snyder, Regarding Wonder Womanhttp://wuis.org/post/dear-zack-snyder-regarding-wonder-woman
TO: Zack Snyder, Big Time Hot Shot Hollywood Director<br />FROM: Glen Weldon, NerdMon, 09 Dec 2013 22:15:00 +0000Glen Weldon14622 at http://wuis.orgDear Zack Snyder, Regarding Wonder WomanMoving Fables Of Gods, Men, Love And Monsters In 'Early Earth'http://wuis.org/post/moving-fables-gods-men-love-and-monsters-early-earth
Despite its title, British writer and illustrator Isabel Greenberg's <em>The Encyclopedia of Early Earth</em> is not mere history, with its assiduous accounting of dusty facts, but is instead a compendium of funny, sad and surprisingly moving fables from the pre-history of a world that exists only in Greenberg's febrile imagination — one that bristles with capricious gods, feckless shamans, daring quests and, of course, doomed love.<p>We meet a man of the frozen "Nord" as he falls in love with a South Pole woman, only to find that some mysterious force prevents them from ever coming into physiTue, 03 Dec 2013 12:19:00 +0000Glen Weldon14209 at http://wuis.orgMoving Fables Of Gods, Men, Love And Monsters In 'Early Earth'Alice Munro, The Punchbowl And Everyday Villainyhttp://wuis.org/post/alice-munro-punchbowl-and-everyday-villainy
Alice Munro, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature today, taught me something important and abiding and true about evil.<p>Specifically, she taught me about that singular species of evil we swim through all our lives. It's the evil to which we petty humans default, even — especially — as we reassure ourselves that we are blessed creatures, generous of spirit. It's the evil born of thoughtlessness and self-regard, and it crouches, waiting, in every conversation, every appraising look, every single human interaction that fills up our days.<p>Alice Munro taught me this. Actually, it wasn't her.Thu, 10 Oct 2013 21:04:00 +0000Glen Weldon10693 at http://wuis.orgAlice Munro, The Punchbowl And Everyday Villainy